The present invention generally relates to body fluid sampling devices, and more specifically, but not exclusively, concerns a sampling device and a technique for expressing body fluid with the device.
The testing of bodily fluids basically involves the steps of making an incision in the patient's skin, expressing the fluid sample, collecting the fluid sample, transferring the sample to a test device, conducting a test on the fluid sample, and displaying the results. These steps are generally performed by a plurality of separate instruments or devices. Typically, an incision is formed in the fingertip of a patient in order to obtain a body fluid sample. Patients are frequently advised to urge fluid to the incision site.
Patients may urge fluid to the incision site on a finger by applying and releasing pressure to a region of skin near the incision with a finger massaging device. In this application, patients frequently use the finger massaging device that applies and releases pressure to a specific region of skin near the incision. The user inserts his finger into the device and pressure is repeatedly applied and released to specific points on the finger.
Often patients try to manually pump or milk the fluid from the incision by applying pressure to the skin. Manually applying pressure to the area surrounding the incision may be difficult for patients, especially for patients with limited hand dexterity, such as the elderly. Therefore, patients may try to use a mechanical device to express bodily fluid from an incision.
One problem associated with the finger massaging device is that portions of skin surrounding the incision are not massaged. Therefore a patient will not be able to urge as much bodily fluid to the incision when compared to the situation wherein all of the skin surrounding the incision is massaged. If an adequate amount of bodily fluid is not expressed to the incision site, then the patient may have to incise another area of skin.
The finger massaging device does not apply oscillating pressure against the skin surrounding the incision. Rather, the device applies oscillating pressure to the skin of the finger on the side opposite the incision. Moreover, the finger massaging device does not vary the pattern of pressure. Therefore, an adequate amount of fluid may not be expressed. Varying the pressure and pulsating the skin surrounding the incision increases the amount of bodily fluid expressed to the incision.
Yet another problem associated with a finger massaging device is that the device is configured to receive a fingertip but not receive other body parts, such as for alternate site testing (AST). Therefore patients must repeatedly lance their fingertips in order to use the finger massaging device to urge or express fluid to the incision. Repeated lancing of fingertips can be painful due to the high concentration of nerve endings in the fingertips. Therefore, alternate sites on the body that have fewer nerve endings may provide a less painful area to sample blood or other body fluids. However, these alternate sites may produce less body fluid when lanced as compared to fingertips. Therefore, it is important to express an adequate sample of body fluid required for testing at an alternate site.
Thus, there remains a need for improvement in this field.